Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 05.djvu/37

 HALE

HALE

provisions, secured the crew and brought the vessel and lier cargo to shore, distributing the food among his famished companions. He was made captain of " Congress's Own," a company of Connecticut rangers, made up of picked men, and with this company took part in scouting duty. Learning that Washington had an impor- tant service for which he asked for volunteers, he was directed to the commander-in-chief at the house of Robert Murray, a Quaker merchant on Murray Hill. Here he was entrusted with a secret mission on which he volunteered despite the efforts of his friends to dissuade him. His reply to their warnings was: " Gentlemen, I owe to my country the accomplishment of an object so important and so much desired by the com- mander of our armies. I know no mode of obtaining the information but by assuming a disguise and passing into the enemy's camp. I am fully sensible of the consequences of discovery and capture in such a situation. I wish to be useful and every kind of service necessary for the public good becomes honorable by being necessary." He visited the British camp on Long Island disguised as a Tory sclioolteacher, obtained drawings of the fortifications, and retired across the island to Huntington on the north shore expecting there a boat to ferry him to Norwalk, Conn., when he was captured, carried to the Halifax, a British guard-ship, and taken before Gen. William Howe at the residence of James Beekman at Mount Pleasant, New York city, on the East river. The information he had gained was concealed between the soles of his shoes and when it was secured he was condemned as a spy and sentenced to be hanged the next morning. Committed to the care of the British provost marshal, William Cunningham, he was confined in the greenhouse of the Beekman mansion, and he was denied the attendance of a minister, the privilege of the possession of a Bible, or the assurance of the delivery of letters written to friends; and his last messages of love to mother, sister and betrothed were destroyed before his eyes. On Sunday morning, Sept. 23, 1776, he was taken to the apple orchard on the premises and with the fatal noose about his neck he was directed to mount a short ladder and from this he spoke his last message to mankind : '* I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." His body was placed in an unmarked grave and its location was never disclosed. A rude stone was set up beside his father's grave in the Coventry churchyard and in 1837 the Hale monument association was organized and a monument of Quincy granite was erected in 1846 at a cost of §3,734. The state of Connecticut erected a statue of Hale in the capitol grounds, Hartford, at a cost of $5,000,

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and the Sons of the Revolution commissioned the sculptor McMonnies to execute a statue in bronze which was erected in City Hall Park, New York city, and unveiled Nov. 25, 1893. The place of his execution is located by the best authorities at the junction of Market street and East Broadway, New York city, and the date is Sept. 22, 1776.

HALE, Nathan, journalist, was born in West- hampton, Mass., Aug. 16, 1784; son of the Rev. Enoch and Octavia (Throop) Hale ; and a nephew of Nathan Hale (1755-1776). His father, Enoch, was the first minister at Westhampton, Mass., 1779-1837. Nathan was graduated at Williams college, A.B., in 1804, A.M., 1810; tutored at Phillips academy, Exeter, N.H., 1804- 06; studied law in Troy, N.Y., and was admitted to the bar in Boston, Mass., in 1810. He practised his profession there, 1810-14; edited the Boston Weekly Mes- senger, and in March, 1814, purchased the Boston Daily Adver- tiser, which he ed- ited, 1814-63. It

was the first daily newspaper published in Boston; was in politics Federal, Whig and Republican; opposed the Missouri and Nebraska bills, 1820 and 1854, and was the pioneer news- paper in the east to advocate the free colonization of Kansas. Mr. Hale also edited and published the Monthly Chronicle, 1840-42, and as a member of the Anthology club, helped in 1815 to found the Xorth American Review. He also helped to found the Christian Examiner in 1823. As acting chairman of the Massachusetts board of internal improvements in 1828, he directed public thought toward railways as available methods of trans- portation, and he was made the first president of the Boston & Worcester railroad, the first organization in New England to use steam power in propelling cars over railways. He continued at the head of the affairs of the road for nineteen years and was first president of the Boston & Al- bany road. He also advocated the introduction of water into the city of Boston and was chair- man of the first board of water commissioners. He served in both branches of tlie state legisla- ture and as a delegate to the state constitutional conventions of 1820 and 1858. He was married in 1816 to Sarah Preston, sister of Edward Everett. The}' had children : Nathan, journalist; Luci'etia Peabody, author; Susan, artist; Charles, diplomatist and editor; and Edward Everett,